


Take Me Back to the Stars

by lenawayy



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies), The Hunger Games (Movies) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, RMS Titanic, but make it hayffie, cindy deserves her own tag, the haunting serie references, young hayffie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:20:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27441058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lenawayy/pseuds/lenawayy
Summary: In 1912, Effie Trinket is a 18-year-old, upper-class American suffocating under the rigid confines and expectations of Capitol society, who falls for a free-spirited young steerage passenger named Haymitch Abernathy. Once he opens her eyes to the world that lies outside her gilded cage, Effie and Haymitch's forbidden love begins a powerful journey that ultimately echoes across the years into the present. Nothing on earth is going to come between them—not even something as unimaginable as the sinking of Titanic.
Relationships: Haymitch Abernathy/Effie Trinket
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. Anchor - Novo Amor

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, I got this idea while watching Titanic because I just could think about hayffie so I made a twt about it and some of my followers encouraged me to make this fic.  
> Every chapter will have a song, that it'll be in the title and I recommend you read them listening to it.  
> Just want to say that english isn't my native language and this is my first fic ever sooooo please be nice with me.

It was everything perfect, just like Effie planned…

Her decoration worked perfectly with the simple but elegant lounge, the flowers where they’re supposed to be, Peeta’s cake was highlighted in the room and the big table was full of food. But what made everything perfect was the happiness of those she calls family, Primrose, Rue and little Finn were playing hide and seek in the corner of the room, Johanna and Finnick were laughing at something they found amusing or were just making fun of someone, she didn’t know, the newly married, Katniss and Peeta were holding hands looking at each other happy in a way that Effie had never seen them be before. It was when Cinna got up from his chair saying...

“Can I have your attention, please? You’ll get to your meals momentarily, but first, the bride has asked me to speak.” Everyone looked at Katniss and the girl just buried her face in Peeta’s neck smiling. “I thought she was joking! Why invite such catastrophe upon your own wedding?” Cinna, like always, made all the guests in the room laugh. “But, as she explained, anyone here is in their right mind so… here we go. First of all, I want to warn you young people have absolutely no idea what you’re letting yourselves in for. Here’s a horrifying statistic. Did you know that almost half of the marriages these days do not end up in divorce?” Again everyone is chuckling with him “That means there’s a strong probability that you two get to watch each other die. And that’s the preferred outcome…”

Cinna pauses in his speech and says these exact words looking into Effie’s eyes... “To truly love another person is to accept that the work of loving them is worth the pain of losing them... and that’s all...” Effie understands his words and a sad smile appears on her face as Cinna continues talking, a bunch of memories invade her mind and all she can think about is that insurable man and how she almost…

“Effs, we’re going to the meadow, are you coming with us?” Portia asks, bringing her back to the present.

Effie looks around and realizes that they are alone in the room. She was so focused on the moments she was reliving in her mind that she didn’t even realize Cinna’s speech was over and everyone had left the room. “Oh God… Yes, I will go” she said already getting up and walking with Portia to the meadow.

When they got there, her whole family was sitting in tree trunks forming a circle with a fire in the middle. It was a little rough for her style, she would rather sit in a mahogany chair but today was not about her, it was about Katniss and Peeta and the beautiful life they have ahead. So she ended up sitting in the trunk.

“What about a story?” Prim suggests.

“A horror story, maybe? You think you can get through this, little duck?” Katniss asks her sister with an amused smile on her lips.

“Kat, you just got married, why do you have to associate marriage with a horror story? Today is supposed to be about love and that stuff.” Prim roll her big blue eyes.

“So if it is supposed to be about love… why not a love story?” Rue looks to the rest of them.

“Humm no, that’s boring. I want action or a little tragedy is not that bad at all.” Johanna contributes to the conversation.

“What about a story that has everything you guys just said?” Cinna voices appear behind her and all of them seem really interested in what he just said “Our Effs here has a story like that and it comes straight from the famous Titanic. Why don’t you tell them, Effie?” Everyone looks right at her expecting an answer.

“Well, it’s a really big one… I don’t know if…”

“We have time. We have the whole night. Tell us.” Peeta says already getting excited with the idea.

“Ok then… It was 30 years ago…”

“Oh god, how old are you?” Johanna interrupts her, chuckling.

“Do you want to hear the story or not?” Effie pursed her lips, tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at the girl in a disapproving way.

“So like I was saying it's been 30 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.…”

*30 years ago*

On Wednesday, April 10th, 1912, an 18 years old Effie Trinket was returning to America aboard the RMS Titanic with her fiancé Seneca Crane, and her mother Charlize. As soon they arrived at the pier, Effie came face to face with the ship.

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about, it doesn’t look any bigger than the Mauretania.” Effie said looking at Seneca.

“You could be blasé about some things Effie, but not about Titanic, one hundred feet longer than the Mauretania and far more luxurious.” Crane helps her mother get out of the car. “Your daughter's far too difficult to impress, Charlize.”

The woman gives him a fake laugh just to soften the man’s ego. “So this is the ship they say is unsinkable.”

“It is unsinkable. God himself can not sink this ship.” Said Seneca while giving orders where to deliver their baggage.  
They ignore all the lines they had at that place and get on the ship without any inspection they were doing on District people.

**_~ It was the ship of dreams to everyone else…to me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. Outwardly I was everything a world bright out girl should be. Inside I was screaming ~_ **

Not so far from there, in an old bar, was Haymitch Abernathy and his friend, Chaff, trying to get some money in a poker game.

“Haymitch, you’re mad, you bet everything we have.” Chaff whispers quietly to his friend.

“When you get nothing, you get nothing to lose.” says Haymitch. “Brutus, your turn.”

“We bet the tickets.” the big bald guy told them.

“What? Did you lose your mind? Cashmere and Gloss are waiting for us, we are supposed to go aboard that fucking ship.” a woman with dark skin named Enobaria says to Brutus.

“Relax, trust me a little, ok?” Brutus said and the four of them get the cards.

“Ok… somebody's life is about to change.” Haymitch looked at his friend. “Chaff?”

Chaff puts his cards in the table and it was a lost cause, after him Enobaria puts her cards down and gets nothing, this way, leaving just the two men to decide who will get the tickets. Brutus shows everybody his cards and turns out he has two pairs.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry Chaff.” said Haymitch with a sad face.

“You sorry? What the fuck, buddy? How are we going to live now?...”

“I am sorry you are not going to see this shitty place for a long time…” Haymitch grabs his friend's arm and an amusing smile appears on his face. “Because we’re going to America! Full house, ladies and gentlemen!”

Chaff and Haymitch celebrate their victory, screaming and mocking the other two. Enobaria seems furious with Brutus as she punches his face making everyone in the bar laugh.

“You son of bitch, let’s get out of here, Titanic goes to America in five minutes.” Chaff grabs their tickets and money, dragging Haymitch to the pier where the ship was already leaving.

They run as fast as they can, pushing everything that appeared in front of them, getting to the passenger entrance of the ship.

“Have you been through the inspection?” asks a ship employee with a fancy uniform.  
“Of course!” lies the blond boy. “And, anyway, we don’t have any louse, we’re Americans, both of us.”

“Right, come aboard.” the man let them get on the ship.

“We are the luckiest son of bitches in the world, you know that?” yells Haymitch to his friend, going to the deck and leaning on the railing on the starboard side, waving to people as the Titanic sets off.

He didn’t have parents or brother anymore, they died in a fire when he was sixteen. He didn’t have money or food. He didn’t have a lot of things, and he couldn’t change his past, but now, he could change his future and something in Haymitch’s heart tells him that Titanic will be responsible for this change.


	2. Ocean eyes - Billie Eilish

Some rooms far from there

The luxurious cabin is full of boxes, paintings and maids trying to put everything in place. Effie is passionate about art, and has a weak spot for paintings, this is just another characteristic her mother likes to tease her about.

“God not those finger paintings again. They certainly were a waste of money.” Seneca says leaning against the doorframe and sipping his wine.

“The difference between Seneca’s taste in art and mine is that I have some.” Effie looks at her fiance with an amused expression on her face. “They’re fascinating, like being inside a dream or something, there’s truth but no logic.” 

“What’s the artist's name?” asks the maid.

“Something Picasso.” Effie answer her.

“Something Picasso? He won't do about two things.” Seneca tells Effie as she walks by him. She just ignores him and keeps going to her suite. “At least they were cheap.”

Her room has a big bed, a fancy dressing table in the corner and a little table with a roses’s vase in the middle. She is trying to find the perfect place to put the beautiful paintings and gives this place a little “Effie’s style”.

“It smells so brand new.” the mais tells her while she cleans the place. “Like they built it out just for us. I mean, just think that, tonight, when I crawl between the sheets, I’ll be the first.” Effie gets carried away by the girl's enthusiasm and gives her a friendly smile.

“Nice when I crawl to the sheets, I’ll still be the first.” Crane appears in the door with a mischievous look. 

The moment she hears his words, her friendly smile immediately disappears. The maid leaves them alone in the room, and Crane closes the door behind him, ogling Effie. The girl turns her back to him, facing the mirror, she still feels uncomfortable when is alone with him, even more in a room with a bed.

Seneca walks to her and stops right behind her. “The first and only.” he wraps his arms in her waist, looking in her bright blue eyes in the mirror. “Forever.” 

Effie, more than ever, feels trapped in every single way a person could be trapped. She’ll marry a person doesn’t love, and God knows she did try to. Actually, she has been trying since she can remember. Trying to fit in the Capitol society, even if she doesn’t agree with the absurds they said and do in there. Trying to be the perfect daughter to her mother, even if she knows that she has been failing in that. That’s why she couldn’t fail in this marriage too, she couldn’t give her mother another disappointment.

**_~ The following afternoon, we were sailing west of the coast of Ireland. There was nothing before us but the ocean. ~_ **

It took some minutes for the ship to finally sail but when it did, Haymitch and Chaff went to the bow of the ship and their view was one of the best he ever had. The bright blue sky meeting the shining blue ocean makes a whole blue path ahead, maybe blue is his favorite color now. 

“I can see the Statue of Liberty already, it's a small of course” Chaff says happily pointing to the horizon. They are smiling like crazies.

“I am the king of the world.” screams Haymitch, opening his arms. The strong wind hit his body and it made it look like he’s flying, he could feel a genuelly happiness growing in his heart. 

He had never experienced hope or freedom until this moment, and _damn_ it feels good.

The two friends start screaming at random in the top of their lungs, it has been so long since they have had these good kinds of feelings. It is like they have just been reborn.   
  


While Haymitch was experimenting freedom for the first time, Effie was once again trapped, deseperaded to break free from that place.

“She is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of a man in all history.” says Snow, a rich businessman, he serves as managing director of the White Star Line, but for Effie he is just another arrogant man with nothing but money in his mind. “And our master shipbuilder Mr. Heavensbee here, designed her from the keel plate supply.

“Well, I may have knocked her together but the idea was Mr. Snow.” Plutarch tells the rest of them. “He envisioned a steamer so grand and scale, and so luxurious in his points, and supremacy would never be challenged…. Here she is willed into solid reality.”

Effie grows tired of “who deserves the credit for making the ship a real thing” that she lights a cigarette just for fun.

“You know I don’t like that, Effie.” her mother whispers to her. 

Effie looks at Charlize and blows the smoke straight at the woman’s face.

“She knows.” Seneca grabs the cigarette from her fingers and throws it away.

She hates when he does this kind of thing, it’s always Crane and her mother making decisions for her, no matter if she wants it or not.

Effie is so tired of all this circus.

“Both of the ram, rail with very little mint sauce.” Seneca tells the waiter. “You like ram, right, darling?” he asks her.

The girl forces a smile on her face and looks at him without answering.

“You going to cut her meat for her too, Crane?” jokes Cindy, an old lady who didn’t have the Capitol's respect just because was a woman without a husband, but is still part of the society thanks to her money and status. “Guys, who thought of that Titanic name? It was you, Snow?”

“Actually It was. I wanted to refer to the size, size meaning stability, luxury and above all strength.” he says, seeming really proud of his work.

“Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Snow?” Effie says something for the first time since she sat at that table, getting everyone’s attention. “His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you.”

Cindy and Plutarch similed discreetly at the young girl’s audacity, but her mother was not happy with her behavior.

“What have got to you?” Charlize scolds her daughter.

She excuses herself and leaves the restaurant, going to the deck. Effie was feeling suffocated among those futile people, every single minute she passes with them, more she is sure that this life is not what she wants.

In that same deck was Haymitch, drawing a little girl and her father who were looking at the ocean. His friend, Chaff, was talking to a girl named Seeder, they seemed to be getting along. He wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation next to him, he was fully concentrated in the drawing, trying to get all the details.

It was when he saw her.

First thing he spots is her hair, silky curly strawberry blond hair, the most beautiful he has ever seen. 

Next thing he sees is her dress, too fancy to his taste, probably a Capitol girl, but it looks _so good_ in her body.

“Oh boy, forget it. It’s easier to see a hand of angels flying than approach her.” Seeder mocked him.

And then, the mysterious girl looks straight at him.

It’s when he takes into account her eyes. Big blue eyes, just like when the bright blue sky meets the shining blue ocean and makes a whole blue path ahead. 

Haymitch couldn’t stop staring at those ocean eyes.

Blue is, for sure, his favorite color now.


	3. Nine - Sleeping At Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guys, this chapter mentions suicide attempt, and what leads someone to make that decision based in my personal experience.  
> I’m warning because I don’t want to trigger anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The music it’s my Enneagram type from Sleeping at Last’s album and I honestly suggest you to listen to it :)

The oppressive fog of her mind begins to vanish as soon as she gets to the deck, feeling the heavy wind in her face.

Effie breathes deeply, trying not to think about her mother and the long lecture she's going to have in her suite once again. She knows she's going to have consequences for her actions with Mr. Snow, but she's not really thinking about it while the blood in her veins is full of adrenaline for defying one of the richest men in Capitol society. It felt so good to give a piece of her mind to those at that table to show them that she wasn't the stupid girl she was raised to be.

She feels someone's eyes on her with this uncomfortable proud burning of her body. She assumes, first of all that it's her mother, or even Crane, coming after her to pull her back to the restaurant, so she looks around. But neither of them have grey eyes.

The boy staring at her seems to be drawing something and this draws her attention. Well, it is not just the boy’s artistic abilities that draws her attention… _he is quite handsome._

She realized that she is staring, and staring is rude, so she looked away just to see, from the corner of her eyes, a shy smile staring to make room on his face, and _that_ took her breath away again.

The overwhelming feeling is rising again, but because of this enigmatic blond boy this time around.

Effie is so lost in her own thoughts that doesn’t see Seneca walking towards her. He approached her from behind grabbing her arm.

“What the hell did you say that for?” he squeezes her arm, taking her back to the dining room.

“First of all, let me go.” she looks enraged at him and releases her own arm. “And secondly, I have legs and a functional brain with perfect memory, which means that you don’t need to be my guide, Crane.” she passed by the man, leaving him behind.

Seneca was not a bad man, actually when Effie met him she thought Charlize was being generous for finding her a beautiful husband to be, but the more time she spent with him, the more she realized he wasn't so different from all the males in that society. But he was not a bad man, he was just… a Capitol man, which means that he believes women have been made to satisfy men’s desires, she would need to be a slut in his bed if she wanted to keep him, and the perfect lady for his allies. But he was not a bad man. It’s not his fault she was born a woman in a patriarch world.

For Effie and Haymitch, the rest of the day went very quickly. He tried to concentrate on his friend's conversation after she left the deck, but that didn't work well because he recalled how vivid her blue eyes were every time he looked at the ocean around them. As for the young woman, the whole afternoon she couldn't stop thinking about that shy smile of his, for some reason her heart was aching for her to talk to him, know him, maybe even be the reason for one of his smiles.

The only thing that makes her stop thinking about him is the feeling of being trapped again. She is in that same table, which now became her biggest enemy, with the same people from before. Charlize isn’t painting attention on her or on her manners, probably waiting for the girl to make some mistake to put it on the list of “reasons why I’m giving you this lecture”.

She is so tired of all that _bullshit._

Effie couldn’t hear what the talking was about, the overwhelming beast took hold of her mind, this time, harder. 

**_~ I saw my whole life as if I had already lived it. An endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches. Always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared… or even noticed. ~_ **

Effie excuses herself and leaves the restaurant, heading straight to her suite. When she came inside, she let the ugly cry fall, making her sobb, because of the previous tears that had already rolled down in the corridor, her makeup was already ruined.

She stops in front of the big mirror on her dressing table and doesn’t recognize the girl staring back at her. Why is her reflection showing someone she doesn’t know? When had she become this barely image of a woman? 

She used to have so many dreams. 

She used to be so ambitious with life.

There were so many things she wanted to do.

But ever since she first tried a cousert, she would get this feeling like... like she’s floating outside of her body, looking down at herself, and she hates what she sees, how she’s acting, the way she sounds. And she doesn't know how to change it. But she’s also so scared that the feeling is never going to go away, and this way she would be trapped forever.

And being trapped is the worst thing that ever happened to her, but it's the only thing she's known since she can remember, no matter how funny it may sound. Trapped by this culture of hypocrisy that needs her to be everything she is not. Trapped by her father since he died and left them with nothing but a millionaire debt. Trapped by her mother that makes her keep a part of a perfect lady with perfect manners and, now, a perfect husband. Trapped by Seneca, in this loveless engagement,knowing she's going to have to add another role to her life, the part of the ideal wife, and this one she just doesn't want to play. She will never pass for a perfect bride or daughter. She can not be herself and make their expectations at the same time.

And the worst way to be trapped.... by herself. Effie realized that she doesn’t own her life anymore, she never did and she never will.

 _I am done with this_ , she through undoing the fancy bun that kept her hair in place, making her beautiful strawberry curls fall loose around her face. Her next target is the red tight dress she’s wearing, trying to break free from it, without success in the end which leaves even more enraged than before. She needs to take this anger out and that’s how she got herself throwing her things and ship’s decoration at random in the wall. That didn't help though.

Effie was thinking about how strong the wind was on the deck, how helpful it was in the early afternoon, so she ran there, clinging to the hope that the wind would bring all those dark emotions, or at least calm them down until she could cover them again.

But the opposite happened when she put her left foot on that deck. She changes her destination and goes to the ship's bow.

She looks down at the water while her mind keeps telling her to do what she wants. She'll make a choice for herself once in her life, even if it's not a good one.

She has been hoping for so long that one day she will find a way of being herself and making her family proud.

Now it’s crystal clear that if she were truly to be herself, she would break Charlize’s heart. 

She has been sleeping walking since she was twelve, trying to reach a perfection that just exists i’m her mother’s head.

She retraces her steps and _honestly,_ at that point, it’s easier to forget.

Choking up, she acknowledges, she has been less than half herself for more than half her life. 

With this in her head and the suffocating feeling of being trapped in her heart, Effie comes even near the bow and firmly grabs the railing. She takes a deep breath and climbs it until her only contact with the ship is her strong grip on the iron bars.

And just like that, she tastes freedom for the first time. 

No more overwhelming monster.

No more doing what the others want her to do.

No more being trapped.

She lived all her life by Charlize’s rules. But now, she will die by _her_ own rules.

But someone like her can not, _will not_ , die like everyone else. 

When her grandfather died, little Effie was concerned with what would happen to her grandmother and that’s how she came to know her favorite story in the world. Almost in the end, she was told that one of them died before the other and became a bright star in the midnight sky. Little Effie was extremely sad with that, but her grandma told her that it wasn’t the end…

 _“The journey ends in lovers’ meeting,_ sweet child. And one day, they will be two stars, holding hands and shining to each other. One day I will meet him again. Do not worry your pretty head with this.” 

Her grandparents were the reason why she used to believe in true love. Little Effie also believed her father was the Prince Charming in her mother’s life, that great love that all books are based in. But at fourteen years old, she discovered her father’s affairs and what he usually did if one of his mistresses got pregnant. Then she comes to know there’s no such a thing as pure as true love in the world she lives in.

So, like always, she pretended. Pretends that she would be missed. Pretends her life was worth living. Pretends she is like her grandmother, who was lucky enough to fall in love with the man she married. Pretends that there is someone waiting for her to become a bright star in the midnight sky with him... 

She pretends that someone will hold her hand when her journey ends.

And for a minute, she can feel that sense of peace as her mind goes quiet, like she’s already dead. She’s weightless and free. Nothing and no one to fear, not even herself.

There’s freedom in dying after all.

**_~ Well, this was the plan and it would have happened if it wasn't for an insufferable man who decided to enter my life right in there moment. ~_ **

“Don’t do it.” says a strong voice behind her.

When Effie looked at the owner of that voice, she almost fell in the water in shock with the sight of it, because she immediately recognized that face. How could she not? She has been thinking about his face since the moment she saw him drawing in that same deck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to not confuse anyone, I’ll update the fic on fridays or saturdays, ok?


	4. The night we met - Lord Huron

“Stay back!” she tells him. “Don’t come any closer.” He just stares at her, seeming to think what he would do.

“Come on, just give me your hand. I’ll pull you back over.” He reached out to her, coming closer in slow steps.

“No, stay where you are!” all she could do is look at him with pleading eyes, tears already falling down her cheeks. “I mean it. I will let go!”

The sight of those tears made his heartache, he needs to do something to help the girl. So, he throws the cigarette between his fingers in the water just to get closer to where Effie is. She watches his movements and for long minutes they just stare at each other, without saying anything, which strangely comforts her but it also makes the girl look away to the water under her.

“No, you won’t.” says Haymitch, watching her closely.

‘What you mean _no I won’t_?” she snaps her head looking at him as she tries to control her breathing. “Don’t presume to tell me what I will or will not do. You don’t know me!”

“Well, you would have done it already.” she definitely didn’t see this answer coming.

“You’re distracting me! Go away!” It is pretty rude to talk in that tone with someone who wants to help you, Effie knows that, but she couldn't think about manners at that moment.

“I can’t. I’m involved now. You let it go and... I’m…I’m going to have to jump in there after you.” he takes off his jacket and bends down to untie his boots, showing her that he was serious.

“Don’t be absurd.” she lets out a nervous laugh. In fact, she is embarrassed for having him undressing in front of her. _It’s not proper._ “You would be killed.”

“I’m a good swimmer.”

“The fall alone would kill you.” she tried to put some sense in his head.

“It would hurt. I'm not saying it wouldn't. Tell you the truth, I'm a lot more concerned about that water being so cold.” Haymitch is slowly removing his boots.

Effie looks down the water with a worried face. She didn’t fancy freezing to death. Not a good way to die at all.

“How cold?” she asks him, seeming to think twice about jumping into the water.

“Freezing. Maybe a couple degrees over.” he finally manages to remove his boots and gets up. “You ever, uh, you ever been to Virginia?” 

“What?” she turns to him, frowning, confusion all over her face.

“Well, they have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up there. I remember when I was a kid, me and my father, we went ice fishing out on a lake. Ice fishing is, you know, where you…” 

“I know what ice fishing is!” Effie interrupts him.

“Sorry. You just seem like, you know, kind of an indoor girl. Anyway, I... uh... I fell through some thin ice, and I'm telling you, water that cold, like right down there…” he gestures with his chin down toward the Atlantic Ocean. “It hits you like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. You can't breathe. You can't think. At least, not about anything but the pain. Which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in there after you.”

They exchange glances.

“Like I said, I don't have a choice. I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the railing, and get me off the hook here.”

“You're crazy.” Effie ignores him and leans forward.

“That's what everybody says but... with all due respect, sweetheart… I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship here.” he reaches his hand at her as his mouth turns into a smug smirk. “Come on. C'mon, give me your hand. You don't want to do this.”

Effie accepts the fact she wouldn't like to die of hypothermia, so she reaches her hand back at him and turns carefully to face that, now, familiar face. They stay there, holding on to each other, so _damn_ close. 

Haymitch may not be in the water but his whole body froze as he saw the bright ocean eyes he was dying to see again, without even notice, a shy smile took place in his face and it’s Effie’s turn to freeze, it’s like millions of butterflies doing a party in her stomach, making her lose sight of the main topic there. He gets her mesmerized with that smile, she couldn’t explain.

“Haymitch Abernathy.” the not so stranger young man says.

“Euphemia De Witt Theron Trinket.”

“Wow! Are you a princess or something?” he mocked her “I'm gonna have to get you to write that one down.” 

His reaction makes her laugh. A genuine laugh, nothing like what she has been used to, lately. 

This laugh was making _things_ with him, or maybe was the view of her cleavage that was making _things_ with him. 

“You can call me Effie.” that is not common in her behavior, she does rather being called Effie, but just by people she knows. “Are you going to pull me back over or not?” she adds, amusing him.

“Ok, the princess here is bossy, get it.” He helps her climb back to the deck, but even with her body safely away from the railing, he couldn't let her go and she didn’t want to leave either.

So they stayed there without saying one single word, but, to Effie's surprise, the silence didn’t bother her, she was too lost in the big hands that were firmly holding her waist to care about it, anyways. As for Haymitch, he could say he was focused on how soft her hair looks that close or how her eyes seem bluer, he didn’t miss all that thought, but now he is shamelessly looking at her cleavage.

“My eyes are up here, you know?” she takes a few steps back, trying to get out of his arms.

The problem is she steps on the fabric of her own dress, making her fall backwards, taking him down with her. He falls on top of the girl, crushing Effie above him. And it’s in this delicate moment that security guards find them. Considering Haymitch’s jacket was on the chair next to him and her expensive dress - which gives away she is Capitol and that makes everything worse, because he is clearly a District person and shouldn’t be near her - had torn with the fall, leaving a sample of her entire leg, it’s not so difficult to understand they though Effie was in danger. Actually, the fact alone that she is Capitol and he is District would have made them think she was in danger. 

They pushed him away and helped her get up from the floor and, although Effie kept saying she was fine and it was an accident, they handcuffed him.

It didn’t take long until Crane appeared in there, he had a furious glint in his eyes.

“This is completely unacceptable!” the man walks up to him. “What made you think that you could put your hands on _my_ fianceé?” he says pointing his fingers on the boy’s face, who just has eyes on Effie. “Look at me!” Haymitch finally looks at Crane and realizes the man wouldn’t take five minutes in a fight with him, which made him want to laugh but he chooses not to.

“Seneca…” Effie tries to call him with tiredness in her voice.

“What do you think you were doing?” he pushes him, making the blond lose his balance.

“Seneca, stop!” the girl ran to them, getting between the two men, face to face with her future husband. “It was an accident!” she gets his attention.

“An accident?” Crane says doubting her.

“It was! A stupid one, really. I was leaning over and I slipped.” the room fell silent, Effie looks at Haymitch and continues her distorted version of what actually happened. “I was leaning forward to see a...hum... that thing…” she starts to spin her finger.

Haymitch shouldn't think this all amusing but the girl is a brilliant actress, and playing dumb is the best choice if you want something from Capitols, he soon realized.

“Propellers?” Crane suggests suddenly seeming bored with her.

“Yes, propellers! And I slipped and I would have gone overboard but…” Effie direction her eyes on the handcuffed boy. “Mr. Abernathy here saved me.”

“You wanted to see the propellers?” her fiance says with a mocking smile.

“Like I said… women and machinery do not mix.” one of the guards said as he took off his handcuffs, but he stopped. “Was that the way of it?” asks him.

Effie and Haymitch looked into each other's eyes, having a kind of conversation. She is silently begging him to confirm her version, something in her actions made him believe that it would have serious consequences for her if they discover she tried to kill herself.

“Yeah, that was pretty much it.” he says in the end.

“Well, the boy is a hero then. Good for you,son. Well done.” the guard releases him completely out of the handcuffs now.

“You must be freezing, love. Let’s get inside.” Crane holds her, already taking Effie away from there.

“What about a _reward_ for the kid?” the other guard says making them stop walking.

“Of course. Twenty dollars is all good, right?” 

“Is this the amount you give to those who save your wife’s life?” her face is frowning with bitterness.

“Effie is outraged… what should I do?” Crane does seem a little embarrassed with her comment, but chooses to humor her instead.

“Maybe you want to have dinner with us tomorrow night, huh?” he offers.

The boy looks at Effie trying to decide what he should do, but he knew the answer since he saw her ocean eyes that afternoon. He almost jumped in freezing water after her for god's sake.

“Sure. I will be there.” Haymitch didn’t know if this was the wisest decision of his life, but he needed to see her again and he would join their nest of snakes if that was what it takes.

“It will be interesting.” Seneca whispers more to himself than to the people there. He puts his arm around Effie’s back and gently strokes her shoulders as they walk into the ship.

They head to her suite - where Effie was sure Charlize will be waiting, sitting on the couch with the whole lecture she supposedly deserves - in complete silence, it is pretty funny how Crane seemed to have a lot to say to her just some minutes ago and now he seems to be lost in his thoughts.

Once inside her room, like she already knew, her mother was there but the lecture was nothing more than “we will talk tomorrow”. _That_ scared the hell out of Effie. Charlize had never postponed a scolding for the other day. 

“Euphemia, why don’t you start your night routine while I talk to your lovely husband-to-be?” offers the older lady.

“Fine” she says, leaving the living room. The truth is she was begging for some alone time after everything that had happened that day.

With Kate’s help - she learned the maid’s name because calling her ‘maid’ simply didn’t sit well for her - she managed to get out of the dress and put on her nightdress. Effie is not a big fan of people touching her hair or going anywhere near her makeup, so she sat in front of her dressing table and started to take care of these things by herself.

That is Seneca’s view when he opens her room’s door, staring at her from there.

“I know you have been melancolic.” his voice is calm and he doesn’t seem angry anymore. “I won’t pretend to know why.” 

He enters the room and walks to her, that’s when Effie sees he is carrying something in his hands, it looks like a jewelry box.

“I intended to save this until the engagement gala next week…” he moves her cosmetics products aside, sitting in the dressing table where the products were. “But I thought that tonight…” he opens the box, revealing a wonderful and _very_ expensive necklace with a heart-shaped blue sapphire pendant. 

“My god, Crane!” says a gaping Effie with wide eyes, touching the big sapphire. Her reaction leaves a soft chuckling escape from him.

“Perhaps it’s a reminder of my feelings for you.” the man was clearly trying to do something nice for her. There had been moments like this before, of course, but it was always put on for a show, never genuine like this. She _really_ doesn’t know how to deal with this version of him.

“Is it…”

“Diamond? Yes!” now, he is widely smiling. He gets up, taking the necklace out of the box and placing it on her neck. “56 carats to be exact, it was worn by Luís XVI, they call it Le Cœur de la Mer…

“The Heart of the Ocean.” they both said at the same time, staring at each other in the mirror.

Effie has no idea what the hell is going on there. What is this supposed to mean? Why did he suddenly decide to be cute with her? Was he capable of being like this after the marriage?

“It’s overwhelming.” she breaks the silence in the bedroom.

“No, it’s for royalty. We are royalty, Effie.” he looks at her with enamored eyes, which confused her a lot. Seneca crouches beside her chair turning the girl’s face towards him, being at the same eye level as he forces her to look into his eyes.

“You know, there’s nothing that I couldn’t give you. There’s nothing that I deny you… if you do not deny me.” the double meaning of his words made her nervous. “Open your heart to me, darling.” he held out his hand aiming to touch her hair, but Effie got up and took a few steps back, away from him.

“Thanks for the necklace. It’s beautiful, I loved it. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m tired so could you…” she directs her glare to the room’s door.

“As you wish, Effie.” he was already opening the door to leave when he stopped and walked to her. “Just wanted you to know that I can be whatever you want me to be, even Prince Charming, ok?” he kisses her cheeks and gets aways from her suite.

She lies in bed, but her thoughts are on what had happened that day. Meeting Haymitch didn’t go as expected - when did she expect to meet him at all? - well, she didn’t expect to attempt suicide either, right? She can’t understand why that man, who she barely knows, was willing to jump to his death after her.

Her thoughts are also on the things Seneca said. She waited for her Prince Charming for so many years just to have her heart crushed by her own father, but now she knows the truth about enchanted Princes and she definitely does not want them in her life. They lie. They buy silence. They make their wives feel miserable. They cheat. They think money can do everything in this world.

So no, she doesn’t want a Prince Charming anymore.

She wants someone who would be ready to risk his life just to save hers...


	5. Halo - Beyoncé

It was already morning and it didn’t take long for Effie to wake up. Actually she barely slept after last night's events.

She took advantage of that and decided to have breakfast earlier than everyone else, this way she would have time to look for  _ him _ .

And that’s how she found herself talking with Haymitch right now. She had learned a little about him until this point. Like Chaff is the closest thing he has to a family since his parents and brother died in a fire four years ago. And also he does have people waiting for him in America, but didn’t say who exactly, just basically he has a plan for his life there. 

“So, princess, we walked about a mile around this deck, we talked about how the weather has been and how I grew up, but I don’t think that’s why you came to talk to me.”

“Mrs. Abernathy, I…”

“Haymitch. You can call me Haymitch, sweetheart.”

“Alright, Haymitch.” she gives him a timid smile. “I want to thank you for what you did. Not just for pulling me back but for your discretion.”

“You’re welcome.” he looks at her, and something in her denounces she is not comfortable talking about what happened in that very same deck some hours ago. He still doesn’t understand why it’s so easy for him to actually see her, to know what she’s about to say...maybe he’s just good at reading people.

“Look, I know what you must be thinking: “poor little Capitol girl, what she knows about misery?”

“No, it’s not what I was thinking.” he stops walking, his eyes never leaving hers. “ What I was thinking was: “what the hell happened to this girl to make her think she has no way out?”

Of all the things he could ask, why did it have to be this one? Effie is not really good at talking about her feelings after so many years hiding them. Actually she thinks she doesn’t know how anymore. The only person who cared about her enough to hear her fears and insecurities was Anastasia, her grandmother, but after her death, Effie learned with Charlize that her feelings make her vulnerable, make her weak. And she hates being weak. Although, something in Haymitch makes her want to talk about it. Something that she had only seen in Anastasia. Something called empathy. 

“Well, it was everything. It was my whole world and all the people in it, and the inertia of my life that leaves me unable to prevent this.” she shows him the giant diamond ring on her finger.

“Shit!” of course he knew she was a rich girl, but this was too much. “And you went straight to the bottom.” he couldn't hold back the bickering, this amount of money could have bought so many meals for him. He looked at her from head to toes with a sly smile.

“Five hundred invitations have gone out! All the Capitol society will be there. And all the while I feel like standing in the middle of a crowded room screaming at the top of my lungs and no one even looks me out!”

Her outburst seems to shock him a little and she can understand that. It’s not common to see some Capitol member act like this.

“Do you love him?” he didn't really mean to say it out loud.

“Pardon me?” 

“Do you love him?” he says again ignoring her frowning face.

“Well, you're being very rude. You shouldn’t be asking this!” the irritation is clear in her voice, which shows she is uncomfortable with the question and that’s already giving away the answer the boy was waiting for.

“It’s a simple question, princess. Do you love the guy with a strange beard or not?” he’s amused with her discomfort. 

“This is not a suitable conversation.” her irritation was replaced for amusement the moment he smiled at her and it’s becoming really hard to not show it.

“Why can't you just answer the question?”

Effie could not fight with her own laugh anymore. What is it about this boy that makes her laugh more than she had these past years? 

“This is absurd. I don't know you and you don't know me and we are not having this conversation at all. You are rude and uncouth, and presumptuous, and I am leaving now.” 

Effie grabs his hand and starts shaking it, she still has manners after all. But the thing is, she doesn’t let go of Haymitch’s hand, staying there longer than it’s proper.

“Haymitch… Mrs.Abernathy, it’s been a pleasure. I’ve sought you out to thank you, and now I have thanked you.”

“And even insulted me.”

“Well, you deserved it.”

“Right.”

“Right.”

She should probably stop shaking his hand now and leave. Yes, she should, but Effie has been known for doing what people expect her to do. Or maybe she likes his touch too much to let it go.

“I thought you were leaving.” his smug expression tells her he  _ knows _ why she isn’t leaving, and he is also holding her hand. He doesn’t want her to leave either.

“I am.” the girl turns her back to him and starts to walk in the opposite direction. “You are so annoying.”

He fakes a laugh for what she said, this makes her stop and turns in his direction again, coming closer to him.

“Wait, I don't have to leave, this is my part of the ship. You leave!”

“Oh ho, ho, well well well, now who's being rude?”

So, it seems their bickering will not end.

“What is this stupid thing you’re carrying around?” she takes the notebook that was under his arms, already opening it. “Are you an artist or something?” she says amazed by his drawings. Effie continues turning page by page, impressed with the boy’s talent. “They are very good, Haymitch.” she sits in a chaise lounge there and he sits right next to her. 

“Didn’t think too much of it in old Paris.” 

“Paris? You do go around for a poor...well, a person with limited means.” the embarrassment for maybe having offended him is all over her face so she smiled to try to mask it.

Although he does not seem offended, actually the whole scene was pretty funny to him. “I am a poor guy, you can say it.” 

A drawing catches the girl’s attention, it was a completely undressed lady. She turns the page and another naked woman appears. “Are these drawn from life?” he nods with a smirk on his lips.

“Well that’s one of the good things about Paris: lots of girls willing to take their clothes off.”

“You do not have any manners, do you?” the fondness in her voice doesn't match with the frowning. The drawing continues being of naked women, but one specific face has already appeared in his other pages. “You like this woman. You used her several times.” he snatches the notebook back at his lap and shows her the next page, it was a drawing of someone's hands.

“She has beautiful hands, see?”

“I think you had a love affair with her.” she says it like she  _ knows _ his deepest secrets.

“No, no, no, just with her hands. She was a one legged prostitute.” Effie looks at him in shock and that has him laughing till his stomach hurts.

He continues to show every single drawn to her, and this time telling the story behind his models. It wasn’t just naked woman though, it was everything he saw. An old lady in a bar waiting for her love to come back. A kid with her father walking in the park…

“You have a gift, Haymitch. You see people.” 

“I see you.”

How could three simple words mean so much to her?

Their eyes meet in a soft glaze that soon becomes a challenge of who would look away first. She did. 

“And?” she lifts her chin in the air and puts a hand on her forehead, posing to him with a smile that could break the walls around this boy’s heart.

“You wouldn’t have jumped.” 

He regrets it just as he said it, the smile leaves her face as fast as she gets up.

“I think I should go now. See you tonight.” her intention of going away didn’t suit him because in  _ seconds _ he was once again walking by her side.

“Wait, princess. You’ve learned so much about me and I don’t know anything about you yet.”

“What you want to know, then?” 

“Tell me about your dreams.” she’s conscious his eyes were analyzing her.

“You know, my dream has always been to run away and become an artist, living in a garrett poor but free!” her excitement is quite amusing to Haymitch.

“You wouldn't last 2 days. There's no hot water and hardly any caviar.”

“I hate caviar! And I hate people telling me what dreams I should or shouldn’t have.” there’s a moment of silence after that, he does not know what to say. “Sorry, that was rude.” her tone is so quiet that he almost missed what she said.

“Don’t be sorry. You are right.”

“It's just that everybody expects me to be this delicate little doll which I’m not. I’m sturdy, I’m strong and I’m here to do something, not to sit around and be decorative.” she stops in front of him and raises her hands. “You see these hands? They were made for work…”

A waiter approaches them offering her a cup of tea and is given a huge “ _ no! _ ” for his troubles and this has Haymitch laughing so hard at her behavior. 

“See? Just prove my point. There’s something in me, Haymitch, like a dynamo, I  _ feel _ it. I don’t know what it is. Whether I should be an artist or a designer or…” she is talking so fast that he barely follows the conversation. “I don’t know, maybe a dancer travelling around the world, or even an actress, which it’s not that different from what I already do but at least I would get paid for it.” 

There’s something in her, for sure.

And it is getting through Haymitch’s heart so  _ fucking _ easy, he’s not an easy person, especially when it’s about the L-word. He can’t fall in love with her. It would be the dumbest thing in this world. It is dangerous getting involved with a Capitol, this has been a rule to him since forever, and he was already breaking it. So much light this girl has, and he does need light in his life. He didn’t see how much he actually needed it after so many years living in the dark, until now.

Until being surrounded by her and seeing her talking with so much passion, it’s like he could see a golden halo glowing around her, like a goddamn angel. 

He may have saved her last night, but now he realized that  _ she _ is his saving grace.

_ Oh boy,  _ he already is a goner.


	6. Maybe - James Arthur

Haymitch and Effie were watching the sunset on the deck, the sun almost disappearing forming in the sky a beautiful orange above them. Both of them talked the whole day about all subjects you could imagine, about family, dream jobs and even about their childhood.

“Can you show me?” says Effie about riding a horse. They were planning to go on an adventure together, doing things that the girl has never done before.

“Sure. If you like.” Haymitch does not actually believe she would do everything they have said and this is showing in his tone.

“I mean it!” she is literally jumping in enthusiasm with this topic. If her mother could see her right now… “Teach me ride like a man.” the girl challenges him. “And spit like a man.” she arches her eyebrows, giving him a defiant glare.

“What, they didn’t teach you in finishing school?” she gives him a ‘are you serious?’ look, making the young men smirk. 

“I still have so many things I want to do but I just can’t, you know?” the sadness appears on her face as fast as it disappears. She could be really good at hiding feelings, but came to be really good at reading  _ her _ .

“I think you can do everything you put your mind to.” here is him again, making her feel things she shouldn’t be feeling.

Getting to know him was probably the only good event that happened on this ship, he’s so different from the people she used to talk to. It brings relief to her knowing that there are people able to understand her and listen to what she has to say.

“Yes, I think I can.” they’re looking at each other in  _ that way _ again.

Neither of them knows what ‘ _ that way’ _ means actually, it’s just something about how their eyes meet and for some minutes time stops, everything around them simply vanishes and they’re the only humans being on the earth.

“Then I will show you how to spit like men. Watch closely.” the boy takes a deep breath and spits hard right into the water. He turned to face her with a very annoying smirk on his lips, seeming proud of how far that spit got. “Your turn, princess.”

“This is disgusting, Haymitch!” her high pitched voice, or how he nominated, her Capitol voice blows up his ears. 

“You can do it! You just need to use your arms, you know? To push harder.” he says already doing it to prove his point. 

“Ok. Fine.” she tries doing as he said but it just came out like a miserable excuse of spit. “Oh” the disappointment in her face is hilarious and he’s really trying not to make fun of her.”

“Pitiful...try again like this.” just as he’s about to spit again, Effie sees her mother with Cindy and one other lady -who she has no idea who she is- walking in their direction. The girl pinches his arms in time to stop him before Charlize catches them.

“Mother…” her Capitol persona is once back in action, and so is her forced smile. “May I introduce Haymitch Abernathy.”

Charlize doesn’t even acknowledge her daughter's presence, she just looks him up and down as if trying to decipher the boy.

“Charmed, I’m sure.” 

**_“The others were gracious and curios about the man who saved my life. My mother, on the other hand, looked at him like an inset, a_ ** **dangerous** **_inset, which must be squashed quickly.”_ **

“Well, Haymitch, sounds like you’re a good to have around.” Cindy is the only one of that little old lady group who didn’t seem to want to humiliate him at every opportunity, he liked her.

“We should go dress for dinner, Euphemia.” her mother grabs Effie’s wrist and pushes her away from Haymitch as fast as she can, something about this move told him that’s not the last time he heard from that woman.

He watches them leave -the girl tried to hug him goodbye but Charlize's glare made her stop in track- and just realizes he’s’ not alone when Cindy’s hand struck his right shoulder.

“Son, do you have the sly comprehension of what you’re doing?” this question could be more ironic than it already is. If there’s anyone in this world who can make him act like a fool and not think straight, it is Effie. 

“Not really.” he laughs off his answer, which is clearly not what Cindy wanted to hear.

“I am not going to ask you if you have something to wear tonight, because I already know what you’re going to say. Come with me. There’s no way that I’ll let you use this kind of clothes in front of Charlize and give her another reason to make you feel smaller.”

It was not Haymitch followed her by free and spontaneous will, but that did have a point, and the last thing he wanted was to embarrass Effie. His afternoon with Cindy was surprisingly good, she gave him some tips about dealing with Capitol and how don’t let their comments get to his head. 

But before that, he needed to talk to Chaff, his best friend. He founded him in the bar, as usual.

“Haymitch, the hell have you been?” it’s the first thing his best friend said when seeing him.

“I have dinner with those riches fuckers and a real nice lady will help me get a cool outfit, what about that?” he sits beside him.

Chaff's expression on his face is not pleasant. He's not the kind of friend who's going to hug you and tell you that life is full of unicorns and happiness. He isn't that type. Even if it isn't what you want to hear, he will give you a piece of his mind.

“I know. You don’t have to say anything.” he sighs “I like her ok? And I have no idea what the hell I am doing.”

“Buddy… I believed when you said she’s different, I really do, but what do you think will happen with everyone surrounding her who is not different? Her fiance for example.” Haymitch glared at him. “Don’t look at me like this. She’s engaged and you have no right liking her.” he turns to the bartender asking for another drink.

“She doesn’t love him, though.” he tells Chaff, stealing the whisky from his hand.

“So what? Does she love you?” Chaff’s question almost makes Haymitch drop the glass on the floor, choked.

Now, Haymitch’s expression on his face is not pleasant to Chaff. It means he just has an idea and something about that conversation told Chaff he will probably not like the course of that history.

“She doesn’t…  _ yet. _ ” he grinned like a crazy man and got up from his chair running in Cindy’s room direction, not even listening to Chaff's telling him that was the worst thing his mind ever came out with.

He also doesn’t know _ a lot  _ of things, like what exactly he feels about her. He may not love  _ her  _ yet, but he could, after so many years he finally believes he could love another person, and he already loves so many things about her. How her eyes can’t lie to him and how damn blue they’re. Or how forward she is. Or how fast she speaks when talks about something she’s passionate about. Or how beautiful she is, and not just on the surface.

He may not know a lot of things but he does know something changed when he saw her standing on that deck. He does know that he should take her hand and make her come with him, away from all that noise and impurity. He does know that the chemistry between them is too much to just ignore it. And maybe, _ just maybe _ , they’re always meant to meet, like it’s all their destiny.

So he was waiting for her when dinner came, dressed in a black suit that suited him very well. The main hall is the most luxurious place the boy has seen in that ship, where there is a large ceiling chandelier, the ceiling is made of glass and that makes it possible to see a beautiful starry sky, it also has a stair - he swears is gold plated - and a clock in the middle of it. He was in a fucking castle, surrounded by nobles, while classical music makes the whole circus look like a damn ball, and he was completely out of place there. Cindy assured him that, before anyone else, she would meet him there, but she was nowhere to be found.

A few minutes later, Charlize and Seneca make an appearance heading down the stairs. Haymitch is not very fond of greeting them, but if he ignores the Capitols, Cindy will have his balls on a plate, but it was  _ they _ who ignored  _ him. _ He was just about to say something when a strawberry haired girl showed up. She is wearing one of those expensive dresses of hers, making her look like a real-life princess.

The beauty in that girl still amazes him.

He may not know a lot of things, but he does know he’s falling for her.


	7. Rewrite the stars - Zendaya ft. Zac Efron

He gets time to take in the view before his eyes as she goes down the stairs in his direction. Surely Effie is a Capitol girl, she was born for greatness and nothing will change his mind about this. But she's not just beautiful, she's smart, she's kind, she's funny, and everything a Capitol wasn't supposed to be. She wasn't meant to be this way. And he shouldn't have been so happy for her being different.

Haymitch offers her his arm when she gets close to him, which she takes it fast. Effie appears shocked at his appearance and his wardrobe range.

“Mr. Abernathy, I’ve never doubted you would be a handsome gentleman.” the smile on  her face gives away she did doubt but she is also mocking him.

“Handsome, huh?” he’s mocking her back.

“Shut up.” she rolls her eyes in a very unladylike. “Let’s go, I don’t want to be late.” 

It didn’t take long for him to be sitting at a long table with people he barely knew, and if it wasn't for her presence, they would never be this polite with him. The food, at least, is really good and makes everything worthwhile.

“Tell us of the accommodations in steerage, Mr. Abernathy. I hear they're quite good on the ship.” Charlize refers to him for the second time on that day.

“The best I've seen, Ma'am. Hardly any rats.” Haymitch seems to tell the joke of the year, because everyone laughs at that table, except Effie, who looks at her mother trying to understand what the woman pretends with that conversation. 

“Mr. Abernathy is joining us from the District Class. He was of some assistance to my fiancée last night.” for some reason Seneca thinks this information would shame him.

“It turns out that Mr. Abernathy is quite a fine artist. He was kind enough to show me some of his work today.” Effie changes the subject before someone teases him for being from the District. 

“Effie and I differ somewhat in our opinion of fine art…” he defiantly glared at Haymitch. “Not to impugn your work, sir.”

The boy shrugs it off as no offense and looks down at his utensils, confused as to which to use, he turns to Cindy.

“Are these all for me?” he whispers to her.

“Just start from the outside and work your way in.” she winks at him and a warm smile at the boy.

“And where exactly do you live, Mr. Abernathy?” Charlize once again talks to him.

“Well, right now, my address is the RMS Titanic, after that, I'm in God's good humor.” 

“And how is it you have the means to travel?” Effie’s mother is very committed to bringing his social status to the table.

“I work my way from place to place, you know, tramp steamers and such, but I won my ticket on Titanic here in a lucky hand of poker, a very lucky hand.” Haymitch looks at Effie and the girl is more uncomfortable with the situation than he.

“And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?” Charlize’s voice became the worst sound in the world to him.

“Well, yes, ma'am, I do. I mean, I've got everything I need right here with me. I've got air in my lungs and a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what's going to happen or…” he drops the gentleman part and eats a piece of bread using his hands just to provoke the woman. “Who I'm going to meet, where I'm going to wind up. Just the other night, I was sleeping under a bridge and now, here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people.” his eyes search for Effie’s blue oceans as he speaks. “I figured life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You never know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you. To make each day count.”

“To make it count.” Effie raises her glass for a toast as the table joins her.

After this, the dinner went perfectly fine, without her mother trying to intervene anymore. He didn’t have a chance to talk with Effie but they spent the night sharing looks every time they could, which Seneca didn’t miss. As the food stopped coming, all the men at their table got up and left for another room -with the excuse they would talk about politics and business and women didn’t know any single thing about this stuff- they did invite Haymitch to go with them but the boy said it was late and it was better to get back to his friends.

“Do you need to go?” Effie gives him puppy eyes, begging him to stay more.

“It’s time to join the other slaves.” he says low enough just to her. “Goodnight, princess.” he reaches his hands intending to grab hers, but, hidden between his fingers, is a piece of paper which he meticulously leaves in her right hand, and gets out of the dining room hoping she will find him.

Effie realizes his intentions the moment she reads the note.

_ ‘Make it count. Meet me at the clock.’ _

With the excuse that she was tired and needed to rest, she left the room. She knows her mother didn't buy it, but she's going to deal with it later. The girl walks to the main hall slowly, not fully understanding what Haymitch is planning, you can never predict what is going to happen with him. 

She could quickly spot him standing right in front of the clock, waiting for her. He hasn't seen her yet so Effie takes full advantage of it and uses the time to decide if she should actually pursue him. Charlize would assassinate her if she came to make another scene on that trip, and Crane... well after that necklace, she's very puzzled about his conduct. She realized she had already made the boy wait too long and walked towards him, making known her presence in the environment.

“So, do you want to go to a real party?” his smug smile back on his face.

“Depends on what you call a ‘real party’.” she hints at him, surprising the boy with the innuendo on her tone.

“Let’s go then, princess, before your carriage turns into a pumpkin and your dress goes back to old rags.” he says, already leading her to… wherever they’re going.

“Have you just made a reference to me in Cinderella?”

“Yes, but in your case the evil stepmother is actually your mother, and the prince is a douchebag who uses you as a trophy wife.” they were going down so many stairs that Effie guessed they're going to some part of the District Class.

“And you?” she points at him with a grin.

“Me?”

“Who are you in my fairytale?” 

“This is what we are about to know.” he gestures with his chin in the air and she looks forward. How could she be so focused on him that didn’t listen to the loud sounds of instruments and people dancing?

There are so many people, talking, drinking, laughing, so far different from the room many stair levels above them. Effie said she was going to get something to drink when Haymitch and a little girl he seemed to know started dancing, she supposes it’s a District dance because no one danced like that in any party she had been to. The Capitol girl sat watching them dance and allowed herself to enjoy the party, ignoring everything she'd ever learned about the people of the District, they had fun, and she'd have it too, even if just for tonight.

“Come on!” Haymitch’s voice takes her out of her thoughts.

“What?” 

“Come on!” he said again but the confused frown does not leave her face, so he grabs her arm bringing her against his chest. “Dance with me, sweetheart.” 

“I can’t dance like this. I don’t know how.” she refuses to look up from his chest for some reason.

“We're going to get a little bit closer.” he puts his hand on her waist and presses his body against hers, making the girl gasp in surprise. “Like this.” he's giving her a dirty wink that causes her to blush.

“I still don’t know the dance.” she breathes intensely, but he doesn't know whether it's because it's hot or because they're near to each other.

“Neither do I.” 

They're jumping and spinning around the dance floor, having the time of their lives, she's never so carefree around people, but he changed her, and now, laughing so hard that it hurts her stomach, she understands that. He had changed so much on her already, how could this be possible? Is it too soon to say she’s falling for him? She can’t be!

She shouldn't be there. She wasn't supposed to follow him. She wasn't supposed to try to jump from that  _ damn _ deck, or he was not supposed to try to rescue her, and she's terrified because she doesn't want to go away. She wants to stay with him, learn how to dance like them and be this happy every single day of her life...

Coming there was a stupid idea because it just showed her the life she so wanted but would never have. 

The life that Seneca couldn’t give to her.

The life she could have  _ with Haymitch. _

“Shit, it’s almost midnight! The princess needs to get back in the carriage, doesn’t she?” he says as they stop dancing.

He insists on making her company all the way back to the Capitol Class, they have a funny talk till getting there, lucky the hallways were empty and they didn't pay much attention to the few people who walk there.

“Here we are.” Effie sighs when they stop in front of the upper-class entrance. “I don’t want to go back.” her voice has an uncharacteristically sad tone.

She looks up at the sky with millions of stars, remembering the story her grandma used to tell and how ironic it seems now. The lovers in that story were separated by death while in  _ her _ real-life they simply are separated by life. Not that Haymitch and her are lovers. She didn’t mean that!

“Look. It's so beautiful. So vast and endless. They're so small. My crowd, they think they're giants. They're not even dust in God's eyes.” she says as stares up at the sky.

“Well, there's been a mistake.” he stares at  _ her _ . “You're not one of them. _ You  _ got mailed to the wrong address.” they chuckle with the truth in his words.

“Look, a shooting star!” she points in the direction and keeps looking as the shooting star makes her path above them

“You know, my Pop's used to tell me, every time he saw one, it was a soul going to heaven.”

“Does your family also tell you stories about the stars?”

“Yes. What’s your story?” his curiosity is all over his face.

“About shooting stars? I don’t have one, just, you know, that you have to make a wish when you see one.”

“What about stars in general?” he doesn’t drop the curiosity.

“Maybe one day I will tell you.” she turns around and comes face to face with him. “Are we supposed to wish on it?”

“Why? What would you wish for?” they are so close that with just one step their lips would meet, and Haymitch is very tempted to do that.

“Something I can't have.” she says it so low that he almost missed it.

He’s not dumb, of course, he knows what she means by this and it was exactly what he was waiting for, a confirmation that she’s also falling for him. Now  _ he _ knows they want each other, even with fate pulling them miles away and out of reach. Looking at him,  _ she _ knows that they are able to be just them within these walls even if there are doors that they can’t walkthrough. 

Maybe they can rewrite the stars, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> A BIG THANKS TO @x_bookfangirl_ FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS CRAZY IDEA.  
> also I have two edit of this fic on my twitter, if you want to see it it’s the same user


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